Amazon's On-Line Storage: Amazon had the best deal in online storage — unlimited backup for $59.99 — but now unlimited is out. It has been replaced with tiered pricing, the system used...

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

Amazon had the best deal in online storage — unlimited backup for $59.99 — but now unlimited is out. It has been replaced with tiered pricing, the system used by Amazon’s rivals.
The new rate, announced to customers Wednesday night, is now $59.99 yearly for 1 terabyte of online backup, with each additional terabyte (TB) costing an additional $59.99 annually.

Erik_H Loc: Denham Springs, Louisiana

You can get a 1 tb external drive for less than that, and only have to pay once. Not to mention the long upload times when using the cloud.

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

You can get unlimited backup with Amazon Prime but you can only upload in .jpg or .gif format for the benefit. If you upload any other file (.doc, RAW, MPG, etc) you are limited to 5 GB of those files & limits the max amount you can upload.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Check Amazon S3 instead. There are 3 versions (each with a lower cost). Regular S3, infrequent access S3 and Amazon Glacier (limited redundancy). There are no limitations on file types stored. I have ~ 300GB in S3, and the cost last month was $2.78. Upload/download speed can be a consideration, but no way you can come anywhere close to the availability/reliability of it at home with an external drive. They keep multiple copies of the data at a number of different physical sites for DR, and the data is stored on enterprise class redundant storage, with redundant servers, networking and power, administered by professionals. Btw, Amazon has a larger market share of cloud storage than the next half dozen providers combined (which includes Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc.) here are the prices:

Standard Storage $023 per GB per month
Standard - Infrequent Access Storage $.0125 per GB per month
Glacier Storage: $.004 per GB per month

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Indi wrote:

You can get unlimited backup with Amazon Prime but you can only upload in .jpg or .gif format for the benefit. If you upload any other file (.doc, RAW, MPG, etc) you are limited to 5 GB of those files & limits the max amount you can upload.

Suspicious minds wonder why they limit formats they cannot easily read.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

rehess wrote:

Suspicious minds wonder why they limit formats they cannot easily read.

Good question, but interesting that no limitations on S3 storage formats. Maybe either a marketing or storage management decision?

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

TriX wrote:

Good question, but interesting that no limitations on S3 storage formats. Maybe either a marketing or storage management decision?

I think it's restrictive because it's a benefit to Prime members whereas other plans cost much more as has been pointed out.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

Last year it was $9.00 for unlimited. Then I got the message they upped the price to $59.00. I have amazon prime so Im suppose to get it for free.
I asked if they could just put my pics into the free prime account. They thought I was crazy.
so I bought an extra drive and I store all my pix on 2 hard drives. I also have a lot on google drive, thats free at the moment.

Jim Bob

Indi wrote:

You can get unlimited backup with Amazon Prime but you can only upload in .jpg or .gif format for the benefit. If you upload any other file (.doc, RAW, MPG, etc) you are limited to 5 GB of those files & limits the max amount you can upload.

Yep.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

brucewells wrote:

Amazon had the best deal in online storage — unlimited backup for $59.99 — but now unlimited is out. It has been replaced with tiered pricing, the system used by Amazon’s rivals.
The new rate, announced to customers Wednesday night, is now $59.99 yearly for 1 terabyte of online backup, with each additional terabyte (TB) costing an additional $59.99 annually.

Yeah, I read that last night. I guess no one can provide unlimited anything. Just think about that word for a minute. Maybe some people abused the privilege, just because they could.

spcherub

TriX wrote:

Check Amazon S3 instead. There are 3 versions (eac... (show quote)

What client software do you use to download/upload files to S3?

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

spcherub wrote:

What client software do you use to download/upload files to S3?

I use GoodSync, but I'm investigating Microsoft SyncToy (which unlike GoodSync, is free). If you go this route, be sure to read the Amazon instructions carefully on setting up a client - not as simple as using your regular login and PW...

Btw, I'm using the infrequent access since it's 1/2 price and this is a DR/archive for me, so I write, but never read unless I have a crash. You could also go with Glacier, which is really cheap if you have lots of data, but I think it has less geographic redundancy. Regular S3 and infrequent access keeps 3-5 copies of your data at multiple geographic sites, while Glacier says "reduced redundancy". I haven't investigated exactly what that means as I only have ~300 GB in S3, so the price difference isn't that important, but if you have TBs (and the BW to move the data), it might be worth investigating.

spcherub

Thanks for the detailed response - appreciate it!

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Instead of the annual fee of $59.99, you could buy a new 1TB external hard drive every year. And who knows when Amazon will decide to raise the price again.

spcherub

rook2c4 wrote:

Instead of the annual fee of $59.99, you could buy a new 1TB external hard drive every year. And who knows when Amazon will decide to raise the price again.

True from a straight price comparison, but with online backup you have the option to accessing/retrieving files from other locations with internet connections. With a local drive, you need to carry it around, which comes with its own risks. I see merits with in both solutions, but I consider them two different use cases.